The world has been growing and evolving based on socialization from the beginning. First, humans started forming groups, then societies and religions to interact with other individuals having the same interests. But until the evolution of technology, we were only interacting and communicating with the individuals living close to us. However, technology has enabled us to communicate and socialize with people that live far away from us, even in other countries. And social meetup apps are helping us to make new friends virtually and then meet them in real life.

Maybe due to these reasons, social meetup apps are now extremely popular, especially among the younger generation. And now, these social apps are providing more tempting features, benefits, and services. So through these apps, you can make new friends and meet new people. In addition, you can keep yourself in touch with old friends and colleagues. And the advanced features of the social meetup apps can give you the suggestions and option to be friends with like-minded people who may have similar or familiar interests and opinions as you do. And due to these amazing features, people spend a lot of their time browsing and chatting through social meetup apps.

The Leaf and Meetup are some of the most famous social meetup apps these days. And one can use these apps to find new people and make different types of outing plans at the best places in their surroundings. So suppose you live in New York. You can use these social meetup apps to make date plans in New York. Or find the local meetup groups in New York if you are looking for a place to look for new people and make new friends. And even the imposition of pandemic restrictions didn’t bring down the popularity of Social meetup apps. On the contrary, these apps were widely used during the pandemic to make new friends and chat with friends. And since the upliftment of the pandemic, the use of these apps has skyrocketed as now people are very keen to meet their friends in person.

However, dating apps have also gained popularity since and after the upliftment of the pandemic. Although, there is a huge difference between social meetups and dating apps. Let’s find out what’s the major difference.

Why are social meetup apps becoming so popular?

Some studies have found that just like social networking apps, like Facebook and Instagram, social meetup apps are also getting immensely popular among youngsters. And not just youngsters, but now people of all ages are using social meetup apps to meet and greet and socialize with new people and their friends. And due to its popularity, now it is not only a means of communication but also a good marketing place for businesses. Thus, you see a lot of ads in your social meetup apps. There are also some kind of meetup apps on which you can share some photos and exciting moments of some event hosted or planned by you and share it with your friends and those who weren’t able to come to your event.

The social meetup apps are also a great place to find old and new friends. There are some apps with search options where you can find your friends. But most of the apps automatically tell you about the people you know, or your contacts, already using the app. But to enable this feature, you have to sync or give access to your contacts or any social networking platform you commonly use to these apps. However, these apps are not dating apps where you can find your soulmate. But there have been such instances where people have met using the app in any event, fallen in love, and got married. That is why social meetup apps always push you to find and make new friends.

Why are dating apps getting so popular?

There were days when people met new people in churches or temples to discuss their relationships. In those times, people commonly get to know everything about each other through real meetings. But now, people have sunk more into the virtual world through the digital age. There has been a drastic cultural change in the past few years, and thus people don’t directly jump to the wedding part. Instead, they first like to know each other well, and dating apps play a very important role in that. It has become very convenient for people to find new people having mutual interests through dating apps. Using these apps, two people from different families and cultural backgrounds, different cities, and sometimes different countries can meet each other based on their interests. They can chat, share their feelings, and get to know each other well through the app. And based on this, they can decide whether they want to take things further or not.

And due to the use of digital platforms more commonly among youngsters and teenagers, the use of dating apps like Bumble and Tinder has increased quite a lot among them. Some findings have suggested that people between the age of 18 to 25 are the most common users of dating apps. But the other age groups are also using dating apps according to their needs, as there are no age restrictions on using dating apps if you are above 18. Some findings also claim that the use of dating apps has enormously increased during the covid pandemic and lockdown.

The most obvious reason for dating apps getting popular during the lockdown was the lack of social interaction. People had no one to talk to, so they started talking with strangers through dating apps. According to Bumble, one of the most common dating apps, there was a 19% increase in sent and received messages on their app during the first lockdown of the covid pandemic. The vice president of the same dating app even stated that during the pandemic, the voice and video calls through their app were at a time high at 18 minutes per call. And this clearly depicts the increased use of dating apps during the pandemic. So as people are getting busier and busier with their work-life, their social life is shrinking. And these dating apps have been a good platform for them to interact and date with like-minded people.

What are the pros of Social Meetup apps?

People of all ages are using social meetup apps due to the variety of advantages they provide. And the following are some of the most significant advantages of Social Meetup apps:

You can meet anyone through these social apps. There are no restrictions on culture or religion when you are looking for new people on these apps. You can even connect with a foreigner traveling in your city.
Through these apps, you can easily communicate with your mates. These apps are great for making fun outing plans and events. Some of these apps are also categorized as scheduling apps for friends. You can easily make plans and work out a common time, date, and venue to meet and communicate with all your friends about the event through the app only.
These apps are also a great place for promoting events and businesses. Suppose you have a restaurant business, a bar, or any fun place. You can easily promote your business through social meetup apps. Just write fun things about your business and place them on the app, and people will consider your business and services for planning Local or community events in New York and booking venues. And in case you host a meetup group, these social meetup apps are the best platform to promote those because people are always looking for meetup groups in new places to find new friends.
Also, such apps are a great place for sharing all kinds of ideas. You can even find online meetup groups of interest. Many businesses, startups, and technology meetup groups can easily be accessed through these meetup apps.

Pros of Dating apps

Both the social meetup apps and dating apps share the same level of popularity these days. And during the lockdown has brought a steep rise in the demand for these apps. So following are some of the advantages of dating apps:

Dating apps are becoming a good platform to find your soulmate. There are real-life stories of getting into a successful and long-lasting relationship through these dating apps. All you need to do to find your partner on these apps is just post some good-looking photos of yourself along with relevant information.
These apps are a great place for shy or introverted people to get into relationships. Introverted people often hesitate and find it a great hassle to date someone or even interact with new people in real life. But through these apps, you can easily find someone having mutual interests and interact with them virtually to get comfortable. And then date them in real life.
Usually, when people look for someone to spend their life with, they consider many cultural things like caste, religion, or family background. But dating apps only match you with people who have the same interests as you do. Another great thing about these apps is that people are only matched when they have mutually liked each other.
You don’t have to hide anything on dating apps. You can share anything about yourself with your match on these dating apps, and you won’t be judged for that. Thus it also helps in boosting confidence and meeting people in real life.
You can always move to the next. We mean, no one is bound in a relationship on these dating apps. You can always move to the next if things are not working out between you two. There are a lot of other options available.

Some cons of dating apps

Regardless of its many pros, dating apps are a risky business in some cases. So it is best not to overlook the cons of these apps. And following are some of the most considerable cons of dating apps:

Although dating apps are great platforms to get into relationships, they can also depict a casual image of you. Through these apps, people can feel that you are very casual in relationships or always looking for hookups through relationships. You may also look like someone desperate for relationships or getting into relationships just to pass the time.
Many dating apps users have also been the victims of cybercrimes. People easily share their pictures with some vital information with their matches, and these things can be easily misused. One can easily con or blackmail you have shared something with them that you shouldn’t. And as there are a lot of online hackers on these dating sites as well, someone can easily track your details and lure you into some scam through the details. Hence, security is always, and privacy is always a concern on dating apps.
And it is not certain that you’ll always find the right person on these dating apps. You could even get into a toxic relationship through these dating apps, further leading to self-doubt and failure in a relationship.

Social Meetup Apps vs. Dating apps

People often confuse social meetups and dating apps and consider them the same thing. But this is not true. They are two different kinds of apps and are used for different purposes. Some say that we can meet new people on both the social meetup apps as well as on the dating app. But there is a considerable difference between the kind of people we meet on these two platforms. On dating apps, you meet new people specifically for the purpose of dating. Whereas on the social meetup apps, you meet new people as well as old friends for socialization and interaction. The following are the other considerable differences between the social meetup and dating apps:

The dating apps are not free. You need to buy a subscription to use these apps. On the other hand, most social meetup apps like the Leaf are completely free to use. And will be asked many questions on the dating apps to find the appropriate partner, but this is not the case with meetup apps.
Social meetup apps have more loyal users as compared to dating apps. It is so because most of the meetup apps provide almost the same features, like making plans with your friends, going for outings, and looking for meetup groups through these apps. But the dating apps have divided uses as different apps provide different features for finding the suitable date.
And although, you can meet new people virtually and then meet them in person through both types of apps. There is a significant difference between the kind of people you meet on these apps. On the social meetup apps, you meet people to chill and hang out with, whereas on the dating apps, you meet people for dating.

Conclusion

Although one can find some subtle similarities between the dating app and the social meetup apps, these two are completely different kinds of platforms and are used for different purposes. And as per our suggestion, there have been numerous instances in which people have found their soulmates through social meetup apps. Also, there have been instances where people are blackmailed or conned through dating apps.

Thus it is better to use meetup apps for making new friends and planning outings. The Leaf is a great social meetup app with many amazing features, making it the best app to make plans with friends.

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